City's lethal Norwegian set yet another Premier League record, but the Reds demonstrated their relentless mentality to grab a valuable point
Manchester City managed to lower the volume of Liverpool's heavy metal football on Saturday, but they could do nothing about Trent Alexander-Arnold's bolt from the blue. The England international's late sizzler snatched a 1-1 draw for the Reds against the run of play and ended City's 23-game winning streak at home, after Erling Haaland had scored his 50th Premier League goal in record-breaking time.
After being left shell-shocked by the madness of their 4-4 draw with Chelsea before the international break, City sought to wrest back control of the play in this top-of-the-table clash and they did a pretty good job of it. Haaland sent City ahead in the first half and Ruben Dias thought he had doubled their lead after the break, only for the goal to be harshly ruled out for an apparent foul by Manuel Akanji on Alisson.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was all over the place throughout the match and escaped a number of near misses due to careless touches, as well as being too slow to get down for Haaland's opening strike. He was bailed out by Alexander-Arnold, but City will be cursing the fact they did not add to their lead before then, as Julian Alvarez missed a glaring chance after being teed up by the electrifying Jeremy Doku.
The result may have felt unfair on City, but is a huge boost for the Premier League's other title contenders, and a lift for neutrals hoping to see the title eventually escape the grasp of Pep Guardiola's side.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad Stadium…
GettyWINNER: Erling Haaland
Liverpool were one of just two Premier League teams that Haaland had failed to score against heading into this game, and the Norwegian looked fired up from the moment the whistle went. After steaming into every defender standing anywhere near him, the Norwegian pounced, latching on to Nathan Ake's through-ball and drilling it under the hapless Alisson.
It was a fitting way to score his 50th Premier League goal, destroying Andy Cole's record as the fastest player to reach the milestone, doing so in just 48 games compared to Cole's 65 matches.
Haaland was not satisfied with his goal and looked determined to get another, coming very close to striking again in the second half. His all-action performance was all the more impressive given he had to leave international duty with Norway early with an ankle injury, and Guardiola admitted he had trained "with niggles" only two days before the game.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Julian Alvarez
The Argentine has had some fine moments this season, but he is now on something of a goal drought after failing to score in his last five appearances. And on Saturday, he just looked off the pace.
Early in the game he set the tone for what turned out to be a miserable performance by making a woeful touch in the box, sending the ball out of play and halting a promising move. But his worst moment of all was still to come. Doku presented him with a dream chance to kill the game off when he laid the ball off to him, but Alvarez inexplicably spooned it over the bar.
His low confidence levels were summed up when he took a free-kick in a dangerous position after Liverpool had equalised and sent it straight into the wall. Being Haaland's strike partner cannot be easy, but right now Alvarez is not supplying the Norwegian with enough passes and looks incapable of finishing straightforward chances.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Trent Alexander-Arnold
There were plenty of eyes on Alexander-Arnold ahead of Saturday’s clash. The Liverpool full-back’s move to play more in midfield has largely been a successful one, with the Reds’ results undoubtedly improving as a result, while it has allowed Alexander-Arnold to re-establish himself in the England team.
However, with Jeremy Doku starting on the left of the City midfield, it was felt that Alexander-Arnold would be required to produce defensively more than he usually is. And so it proved, with City attacking almost exclusively down their left-hand side in the first half, with Doku pinning Alexander-Arnold back, even if their battle was a relatively even one.
In fact, the Liverpool man’s worst moment actually came when it was Ake driving forward, as Alexander-Arnold’s weak attempt at a challenge allowed the Dutchman to dribble past him and play the ball into the path of Haaland, who in turn gave City the lead.
Alexander-Arnold, then, needed to make amends, and in a game where he seemed to take inspiration from David Beckham, both in terms of his outrageous crossfield passes and his choice of adidas Predator boots, it was he who had the final say with an arrowed drive from the edge of the box that found the bottom corner, silenced the Etihad and secured a point for the Reds.
Doku did his best to try and create a winner in stoppage-time, but Alexander-Arnold and the rest of the Liverpool backline stood firm to make a statement in this most-engrossing of title races.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Alisson
There are few goalkeepers who are more dependable than Alisson in world football, and so his performance on Saturday was more than a little alarming. Whether the quick turnaround after returning from international duty with Brazil on the other side of the world had anything to do with it, only he will know, but even then some of his errors were inexcusable.
Usually so good with the ball at his feet, the ex-Roma man was all over the place in the first half when he picked up possession, and his pass out that landed at the feet of Phil Foden should really have been punished by the England star. He was then almost caught out by Haaland inside the six-yard box, though Curtis Jones’ poor pass had as much to do with that as Alisson’s lack of composure.
Eventually the ‘keeper was punished by Haaland, however. So often we have seen him unleash a sprinting Mohamed Salah with flat kicks out of his hands, but as Liverpool tried to break following a corner, Alisson this time sliced his clearance. Ake picked up the ball midway inside the visitors’ half and laid on Haaland to open the scoring with a shot that Liverpool’s No.13 will probably feel he should have tipped around the post given he got a hand to it.
Alisson went some way to redeeming himself before half-time with a strong save from Foden, but was fortunate not to concede a second midway through the second period after he spilled a corner and Ruben Dias tapped in at the back post. Manuel Akanji, however, was penalised for a very soft foul on the goalkeeper, and on another day that could easily have been two goals where Alisson was clearly at fault.
He ended the afternoon clutching his leg in his own penalty area after picking up what Klopp described as a minor injury, and Alisson will soon want to move on from what was arguably his worst display since joining Liverpool in 2018.
